When is the last time you watched a major live poker tournament unfold? Maybe you caught some of the recent 2012 World Series of Poker on ESPN. Ever notice how scathingly serious everyone is? You might see someone crack a smile every now and again, perhaps even a light hearted chuckle will escape a competitor in between hands. But for the most part, these guys (and gals) have all the charm and personality of a brick wall on antihistamines.
The general consensus would have you to believe that, in order to be a professional poker player, you have to have a certain level of rawness to you. A boring kind of rawness. A distinct lack of personality if you will. In reality, what they have is a hardened shell. The toughest exterior combined with the mental cunning of a viper.
The typical observer would come to the obvious conclusion that one must develop the same thick-skinned, emotionless attitude in order to be a professional poker player of this caliber. Like the old adage says, “If you can’t beat them, join them”. On the one hand, this can be true. It’s a proven tactic throughout the ages and not a bad stratagem. It’s worked for these guys right? The problem is it’s just so tedious and uninspiring. Fortunately, there is another alternative.
If you’ve ever head the term ‘maniac poker player‘, you may have an idea of what I’m talking about. However, a maniac poker player is termed such for their maniacal in-game strategies. Suddenly switching from a tight game where only one in ten hands are actually played to the flop, to a lackadaisical approach where every hand is played like money in the bank; this is a common tactic among ‘maniac‘ strategists. The purpose is to throw their opponents off the scent, making them entirely unreadable.
In the case of personality, a player can become a maniac of emotions; the opposite of the standard poker pro. I’m not suggesting you pick up your hole cards and begin to cry, or dance on your chair after the flop. Nothing that radical is necessary. Rather, you can become a source of mystery at the table without putting the audience, or yourself, to sleep.
For example, at the most serious of moments, when the pot is inundated with chips and there’s a hushed pallor over the table, let out a sudden, fleeting rupture of laughter. Something short, not too loud, but enough to turn some heads. Then quickly apologize, tittering out some facetious excuse. Maybe you just remembered something funny, like a joke your friend told you last week, or walking in on your mother naked when you were a child.
When faced with a tough decision, everyone is staring you down to see if you’ll fold under pressure or raise the pot, give yourself a little extra time to think by tossing some offhanded comment about another game of cards. You could glance around the table and say you’re trying to figure out who is holding the Old Maid, or tell the next player to act to “Go Fish”. If you have a good enough card, such as an Ace or board-paired face card, and really want to get their panties in a bunch, drop that card face up and say “Uno!”
A poker player can easily train themselves to be carefree on the outside, while maintaining a stoic inward calm, much the same way the majority of professional poker players train themselves to reveal stone cold emotion to the table while, in reality, they are a torrent of inner emotions. I will only say one word of warning. Please, for the love of a higher power, do not emulate Phil Hellmuth Jr! Is that guy annoying or what?